Headlight



y 1934. M. SANTAMARIA 1,956,736

HEADLIGHT Filed Dec. 8, 1932 [1V VENTOR NiJvelino SanZamam'a BY WW ATTORNEY Patented July 17, 1934 UNITED TES 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in headlights and particularly to that class of headlights in which indirect illumination is secured by means of reflectors for the purpose of preventing the intensive glare caused by direct illumination. The principal object of this invention is the provision or" an Lnproved bracket or support in which the reflector is detachably mounted and which is simple in construction, inexpensive to make, and more eflicient than supports of this kind heretofore in use. i

-another object of the invention is the provision of a support of this kind which is constructed of two pieces of material hin ed together in a manner to be movable on each other to and from engagement with a reflector supported thereby, said pieces being interengageable with each other to retain the reflector between them.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a support of this kind constructed of two pieces of material hinged together to be movable to and from engagement with a reflector to be supported between them over the front of a lamp and arranged to grasp the lamp socket or shank of the lamp between them to be supported thereon when moved into engagement with the reflector.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter, described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification. the novel features being particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawing;

Fig. l is a vertical longitudinal section of a headlight illustrating one possible embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the support detached, and the reflector removed;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the parts in another position;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation showing the reflector mounted in the support, the movement of the parts for disengagement from the reflector being shown in broken lines;

Fig. is a front elevation, showing the support mounted on the lamp socket, the outline of the reflector being shown in broken lines;

Referring particularly to the drawing, in which the invention is illustrated applied to an automobile headlight of usual or ordinary construction, 1 is the headlight casing of the usual concave form. The casing 1 may be constructed of a single piece of sheet material closed at its rear I end and open at the front. In the open or front end a lens 2 of usual or ordinary construction is mounted. Also secured to the casing at the open front end is a parabolic or other reflector 3 having its inner apex in substantial alinement with the apex of the casing. Secured in the apex of the casing and projecting forwardly therefrom, is a tubular lamp socket 4 arranged in a tubular nipple 5 projecting rearwardly from the apex of the reflector 3. An electric lamp So has its shank ar-' ranged in the socket in which it is secured by any 65. suitable or preferred means, such as a bayonet joint. The parts above described are or may be 0 usual ordinary construction. Owing to the b13111 liant glare produced by a lamp of this kind, caused by the overlapping of the direct and reflected rays of light, it has been proposed to mount a reflector in a well known manner in front of the lamp to cut oif the direct rays of the lamp or divert them to the concave reflector at one side of the lamp, preferably to the upper portion of said concave reflector. In the drawing the mirror 6 is shown mounted in this manner. novel detachable means being provided for detachably supporting it in the manner shown. Said means comprises a support preferably constructed of elongated pliable material, such as wire and comprising two parts 7 and 8 hinged to each other at the rear and adapted to interengage each other at the front and retain the reflector 6 between them. The upper part 7 has its ends bent at 9 to form loops or eyelets which loosely engage the part 8 in such a manner that the latter is pivotally movable thereon. Adjacent the eyelets, it is bent to form a serni-circular portion 11 arranged to engage the upper periphcry of the socket 4 and cooperating with a similarly formed portion 12 of the part 8 to resiliently grasp or engage the lamp socket when the parts are moved toward each other to engage the reflector 6 between them. It is then twisted to form a forwardly extending portion or arm 13 which terminates in two forwardly extending parts 14 and 15 which at their forward ends are bent to form reflector engaging portions 16 and 1'7 which are bent to form downwardly extending laterally diverging portions 18 and 19 connected at their lower ends to form a substantially triangular loop adapted to be arranged over the front of the reflector and having V-shaped keeper portions 21 at its lower apices adapted to be engaged by loops or hooks 22 on the ends of the part 8.

From the hooks 22 the part 8 is bent downwardly then rearwardly and upwardly to form reflector engaging portions 23 arranged to engage the reflector 6 at points substantially intermediate its extreme bottom and side portions. From the reflector engaging portion 23 the part 8 has rearwardly extending arms 24 which converge toward the socket engaging portion 12 and are bent outwardly or laterally to cooperate therewith to form loops 25 which are pivotally mounted in the hooks or loops 9.

Owing to the form of the loops 25 when the parts '7 and 8 are moved to the position shown in Fig. 2, the socket engaging portions 11 and 12 assume a position to form a substantially circular ring which may be readily passed over the lamp socket when the lamp is absent therefrom. The shank of the lamp may then be inserted in the socket in the usual manner. The reflector 6 with its mirror side facing inwardly may then be arranged in front of the lamp and the parts '7 and 8 moved toward each other into engagement with its periphery which movement causes the parts 11 and 12 to tend to assume the more or less elliptical shape shown in Fig. 3, but resiliently retained in the substantially circular form by their engagement with the lamp socket, as shown in Fig. 5. By this arrangement, when the parts are swung toward each other, the socket is resiliently and securely gripped between the parts 11 and 12 and if the parts 22 are engaged with the parts 21 the support is securely mounted on the lamp socket. At the same time the parts 16 and 17 engage the reflector at points adjacent its uppermost point and the parts 24 are sprung to engage the hooks 22 with the parts 21 as seen in Fig. 4, so that the reflector 6 is resiliently engaged thereby and securely mounted in the front ends of the arms 13 and 24.

It will be noted that the arm 13 is longer than the arms 24 so that when mounted thereon, the reflector assumes a downwardly and rearwardly inclined position as seen in Fig. 1, so that the forwardly directed rays of light from the lamp are reflected upwardly and rearwardly to the reflector 3 from which they are again reflected forwardly. A support such as herein described is simple in construction, light in weight, readily detachable from or attachable to any headlight. The reflector 6 may also be readily detached or replaced in case of breakage.

Although only one embodiment of the invention is shown and described, herein, it will be understood that this application is intended to cover such changes or modifications as come within spirit of the invention or scope of-thc following claims; 7

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a headlight having a reflector, a lamp socket therein, and a lamp in said socket, of a reflector arranged in front of said lamp, and means for detachably supporting said reflector, said means comprising two parts constructed of resilient material and pivotally connected with each other, one of said parts comprising a socket engaging portion having a forwardly extending arm having a pair of reflector engaging portions and a pair of keepers, the other of said parts having a socket engaging portion pivotally mounted on the socket engaging portion of the first part and movable thereon to engage the lamp socket between them, a pair of diverging arms extending forwardly from said socket engaging portion, each having a reflector engaging portion and terminating in hooked portions adapted to detachably engage the keepers of the first part to retain the support resiliently engaged with the lamp socket.

2. A reflector support for a headlight comprising two parts pivotaily connected with each other and having socket engaging portions whereby they may be clamped to a lamp socket, one of said parts having a forwardly extending arm on its socket engaging portion terminating in a loop having reflector engaging means and a pair of keepers, and the other of said parts having a pair of forwardly extending arms each having a reflector engaging portion and terminating in keeper engaging means.

MICHELINO SANTAMARIA. 

